FLEXIBLE SOLAR CELL AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF
A flexible solar cell and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The flexible solar cell includes a rigid transparent substrate, a transparent electrode, a photoactive layer, a metal electrode, an encapsulating structure and a flexible substrate. The transparent electrode is disposed on the rigid transparent substrate, the photoactive layer is disposed on the transparent electrode, and the metal electrode is disposed on the photoactive layer. The transparent electrode, the photoactive layer and the metal electrode are sealed by the encapsulating structure disposed on the rigid transparent substrate. The flexible substrate opposite to the rigid transparent substrate is disposed on the encapsulating structure.
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This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 101134023, filed on Sep. 17, 2012. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe disclosure relates to a flexible solar cell and a manufacturing method thereof.
BACKGROUNDIn general, a flexible solar cell is required a flexible thin film as a substrate, and devices are then manufactured on the flexible thin film to achieve bending. However, when the flexible substrate is bent, the layered devices on the flexible substrate such as the indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent electrode, the photoactive layer or the metal electrode, may be peeled from each other or damaged, so that the deterioration is occurred, thereby affecting the reliability of the flexible solar cell.
In addition, the solar cell manufacture needs to rely on the module designed in series and/or parallel connections, so as to achieve a particular output of voltage current and meet the power output requirement in usage. The ITO electrode is generally utilized in current solar cell modules to connect with the metal electrode, so as to perform the series-parallel connection. However, because the sheet resistance of ITO electrode is higher than that of metal electrode, it may reduce the efficiency of the devices in the solar cell.
In view of mass production, the yield and quality of products are also key factors. After large area devices are manufactured, the control factors such as the current collection efficiency of the transparent electrode, the uniformity of the photoactive thin film and other fabrication parameters, are all closely related to the final device efficiency. In terms of device design, utilizing the structure design to achieve optimal quality and reducing the efficiency losses between the small-area device and the large-area module have become the focusing topics for person having ordinary skill in the art.
The solar cell modules may be categorized into two types, which are the monolithic type and the strip type, respectively. The monolithic type, as the name implies, is the structure of integrally formed. At present, it is the most common approach for silicon solar cells. It is capable of being fabricated in a single sheet and detected one-by-one precisely. However, under the circumstances of large area and the need for using the ITO transparent electrode, the high resistance of ITO may cause the device efficiency to loss substantially, resulting in fill factor (F.F.) decay of devices. Therefore, a metal busbar having a geometric shape (such as a honeycomb shape) may generally be disposed on the ITO transparent electrode for assisting the current collection and the transmission. Nevertheless, the more the manufacturing steps added, the more complicated the manufacturing process became, such that the manufacturing cost may be increased.
The strip-type solar cell module is another design approach commonly used for modules. It is mainly constituted by stripe patterns and directly performed the series-parallel connection on a single substrate. Such design has been commonly applied to the organic solar cell module and the copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cell module, where the manufacturing process is simple and a sub-module structure may be directly formed concurrently, and thus it is no need to be further assembled and the manufacturing cost is reduced. Nevertheless, the spacing between stripes and the alignment accuracy of such module need to be investigated, meanwhile, the required space for the devices connected in series needs to be sacrificed with regard to the area utilization rate.
SUMMARYOne of exemplary embodiments comprises a flexible solar cell including a rigid transparent substrate, a transparent electrode, a photoactive layer, a metal electrode, an encapsulating structure and a flexible substrate. The transparent electrode is disposed on the rigid transparent substrate, the photoactive layer is disposed on the transparent electrode, and the metal electrode is deposed on the photoactive layer. The encapsulating structure seals the transparent electrode, the photoactive layer and the metal electrode on the rigid transparent substrate. The flexible substrate opposite to the rigid transparent substrate is disposed on the encapsulating structure.
Another of exemplary embodiments comprises a manufacturing method of a flexible solar cell, and the manufacturing method includes the following steps. Firstly, a rigid transparent substrate is provided. Subsequently, a plurality of transparent electrodes is formed on the rigid transparent substrate. Thereafter, a photoactive layer is formed on each of the transparent electrodes. Afterwards, a metal electrode is formed on each of the photoactive layers, so as to form a plurality of solar cells constituted by each of the transparent electrodes, the photoactive layers and the metal electrodes. Subsequently, a plurality of encapsulating structures is formed on the rigid transparent substrate, wherein each of the solar cells is sealed by each of the encapsulating structures. Afterwards, a flexible substrate opposite to the rigid transparent substrate is formed on the encapsulating structures. The rigid transparent substrate is cut so as to dispose each of the solar cells respectively on the flexible substrate.
Several exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below to further describe the disclosure in details.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide further understanding, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
Several exemplary embodiments are illustrated in the following description to describe the disclosure.
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Several exemplary examples in the following description demonstrate the disclosure.
Exemplary Example 1The flexible solar cell as shown in
In addition, the flexible solar cell as shown in
Sixteen flexible solar cell devices shown in
To sum up, the transparent electrode, the photoactive layer, the metal electrode and other devices of the flexible solar cell in the disclosure are built on the rigid transparent substrate, therefore, the deterioration of flexible solar cell due to the bending of the solar cell may not occur. In addition, the current collection efficiency of the transparent electrode may be further improved if the metal layer is disposed on the transparent electrode.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. A flexible solar cell, comprising:
- a rigid transparent substrate;
- a transparent electrode, disposed on the rigid transparent substrate;
- a photoactive layer, disposed on the transparent electrode;
- a metal electrode, disposed on photoactive layer;
- an encapsulating structure, sealing the transparent electrode, the photoactive layer and the metal electrode on the rigid transparent substrate; and
- a flexible substrate opposite to the rigid transparent substrate, disposed on the encapsulating structure.
2. The flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 1, wherein the photoactive layer and the rigid transparent substrate are insulated from each other through the transparent electrode.
3. The flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 1, wherein the photoactive layer covers a portion of the transparent electrode and the transparent electrode is partially exposed.
4. The flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 1, wherein a portion of the photoactive layer is contacted with the rigid transparent substrate.
5. The flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a metal layer disposed on the exposed transparent electrode, wherein the metal layer is electrically isolated from the metal electrode.
6. The flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 5, wherein the metal layer is configured to connect a plurality of the flexible solar cells in series or in parallel.
7. The flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 6, wherein the flexible solar cell is configured to connect in series, in parallel or in series-parallel to form a solar cell module.
8. The flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 1, wherein the encapsulating structure comprises an encapsulant or is made up of an encapsulating support and an encapsulating cover.
9. The flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible substrate comprises a metal substrate or a plastic substrate.
10. A manufacturing method of a flexible solar cell, comprising:
- providing a rigid transparent substrate;
- forming a plurality of transparent electrodes on the rigid transparent substrate;
- forming a photoactive layer on each of the transparent electrodes;
- forming a metal electrode on the photoactive layer to form a plurality of solar cells constituted by each of the transparent electrodes, the photoactive layer and the metal electrode;
- forming a plurality of encapsulating structures on the rigid transparent substrate, wherein each of the solar cells is sealed by each of the encapsulating structures;
- forming a flexible substrate opposite to the rigid transparent substrate on the encapsulating structures; and
- cutting the rigid transparent substrate so as to dispose each of the solar cells respectively on the flexible substrate.
11. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of forming the photoactive layer comprises: contacting a portion of the photoactive layer with the rigid transparent substrate.
12. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of forming the photoactive layer comprises: insulating the photoactive layer and the rigid transparent substrate from each other through the transparent electrode.
13. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of forming the photoactive layer comprises: exposing a portion of the transparent electrode.
14. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 13, wherein the step of forming the metal electrode comprises: forming a metal layer on each of the exposed transparent electrodes simultaneously, wherein the metal layer is electrically isolated from the metal electrode.
15. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 10, wherein the encapsulating structures comprise an encapsulant, or each of the encapsulating structures is made up of an encapsulating support and an encapsulating cover.
16. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 15, wherein the encapsulating support in each of the encapsulating structures is detached.
17. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 16, wherein the step of forming the plurality of encapsulating structures comprises:
- forming a plurality of the detached encapsulating supports on the rigid transparent substrate, where each of the detached encapsulating supports surrounds each of the solar cells; and
- forming the encapsulating cover on the detached encapsulating supports.
18. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 17, wherein the step of cutting the rigid transparent substrate further comprises: cutting the encapsulating cover so as to dispose each of the solar cells respectively on the flexible substrate.
19. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 15, wherein the encapsulating support and the encapsulating cover in each of the encapsulating structures are detached.
20. The manufacturing method of the flexible solar cell as claimed in claim 19, wherein the step of forming the plurality of encapsulating structures comprises:
- forming a plurality of the detached encapsulating supports on the rigid transparent substrate, where each of the encapsulating supports surrounds each of the solar cells; and
- forming a plurality of the detached encapsulating covers on each of the detached encapsulating supports.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 15, 2012
Publication Date: Mar 20, 2014
Applicant: INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE (Hsinchu)
Inventors: Yi-Ming Chang (Hsinchu City), Chao-Feng Sung (Hsinchu City), Mei-Ju Lee (Kaohsiung City), Chia-Sheng Huang (Yilan County), Chi-Yi Leu (Hsinchu City)
Application Number: 13/677,316
International Classification: H01L 31/0224 (20060101); H01L 31/18 (20060101);